1. Statement of the Technical Field
The present invention relates to the field of call processing systems, and more particularly to processing menu changes in a telephone prompting system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Telephone prompting systems are increasing employed to provide an interface to voicemail systems and to provide an interface for interactive voice response systems (IVR), such as airline reservations, bank customer account lines, and other institutional lines such those of government, utilities, credit card companies and the like. Many systems, such as those used for banking or stock trading, may be frequently accessed by individual users, often several times a day. In such systems, users are presented with hierarchical levels of prompts that the customer can respond to by depressing buttons on the telephone keypad or through spoken words. The resulting dual tone multifrequency (DTMF) signals or audio are received by the prompting system and used to access a different level in the hierarchy or to access a specified function.
Prompting system technologies do not require human interaction over the telephone as the user's interaction with the database is predetermined by what the prompting system will permit the user to access. For example, banks and credit card companies use prompting systems so that their customers can receive up-to-date account information instantly and easily without having to speak directly to a person. Prompting system technology, such as that found in IVR systems also can be used to gather information, as in the case of telephone surveys in which the user is prompted to answer questions by pushing the numbers on a touch-tone telephone.
Sometimes, the menu structures of a telephone prompting system must be changed due to changing levels of service such as when a new service option has been added or when existing service options have been removed. Other circumstances can include the re-organization of a menu resulting from caller complaints, business rule changes or priorities, usability testing, and the like. When menu structure changes are made, it is important to inform the calling parties of such menu changes in order to minimize navigational errors, as well as erroneous transfers to unwanted agents. This can be helpful when a calling party attempts to “key ahead” to reach a known destination or menu in a prompting system but unwittingly ends up in a menu or accessing a service that is unwanted. However, after a while, repeated messages or announcements of menu changes may frustrate and annoy certain calling parties who are frequent users of the prompting system.